Cheresources.com Community Community Blog List

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Compressor Surge And Anti-Surge Control

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:11:00 +0000

Compressor surge has been discussed often on the forum with many posts dedicated to the subject. Despite all these discussions there was a serious lack of the basic scheme of anti-surge control. Today's blog entry tries to remedy the situation. I am presenting an excel attachment related to basic anti-surge control which should help all those who have...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - February 21, 2012

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:52:00 +0000

North America

Disclosure fight

Monsanto Co. is fighting with Idaho’s utilities, arguing they should be forced to disclose more information about costs of future power plants or transmission lines so customers will be better armed to oppose unnecessary...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Some Utility Consumption Estimates

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:43:00 +0000

As part of preparing a process discipline manual for one of my previous organizations, one section that I had prepared was "Guidelines for Preparation of Utility Summary". This document besides containing an excel template for utility summary also had some guidelines for determining the consumption of utilities such as instrument air, cooling...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Short Cut Formulas For Gas Densities At Various Standard Conditions

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:52:00 +0000

Dear all,

I have been posed by many young entry level engineers about standard gas density calculations which I do in a jiffy using a calculator. I will try to summarize these below:

As a basic we are all supposed to know that gas density is calculated as:

rho = P*M / R*T*Z ------------- 1

or

rho = M / ((R*T*Z) / P) ----------- 2

where:

rho = gas...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - February 7, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:52:00 +0000

North America

Ethanol venture

POET LLC and Royal DSM hope to start production on their $250 million cellulosic ethanol project in the second half of 2013. Initial production is estimated to be 20 million gallons. The investment will be focused on...

Community Admin Blog - Revisiting The Reputation System

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:55:00 +0000

A while back, I posted a blog entry on this subject here:

http://www.cheresour...and-reputation/

We've had some time to live in the environment and I collected much feedback from the community. I wanted to raise this issue again to see how you think the...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Engineering Applications Available For Iphone

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:28:00 +0000

Are you a gadget lover, and are you a fan of "Apple" products? Besides being a gadget lover and an admirer of Apple, do you also happen to be an engineering student or an engineeering professional with the zest to do quick calculations while on the move?

If the answer to the above questions is yes, then you will simply love the iPhone for the...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - January 24, 2012

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:34:00 +0000

North America

10-year deal

Canada’s two largest railways have announced the signing of long-term deals with Canpotex Ltd., a company set up to export Canadian potash. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. signed a 10-year agreement with Canpotex to carry a large...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Filament Yarn / Fiber Quench Air Systems

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:04:00 +0000

I spent a long part of my career, both operations and design in Polyester Synthetic Fiber(filament yarn and staple fiber) including operations and engineeering design. During my stint as a process design engineer involved in design of polyester plants including Polyester Filament Yarn and Polyester Staple Fiber plants one of the key requirements was finding...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - January 10, 2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:25:00 +0000

North America

Production suspension

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. plans a four-week production shutdown starting next month at its Allan mine in the Saskatoon area. No layoffs are expected among the 290 hourly wage workers during the Feb. 5 to March...

Community Admin Blog - Our Transition Continues: Technical Q & A Database And Che Links

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:14:00 +0000

I've completed transitioning a couple of legacy databases over to our new system.

The technical question and answer database has been ported as well as Dr. Bernhard Spang's ChE Links database. Links to these resources will reside under the "FAQ" menu item and you can find them...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Vendor Database � The Achilles Heel Of Engineering Companies

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:16:00 +0000

I am not delving into Greek mythology. The title is a metaphor indicating that lack of a good vendor database is a weak point of many engineering companies. Absence of a proper database is an obstacle in providing good quality engineering services as well as enabling timely completion of the engineering...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Material Selection For The Oil And Gas Industry

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:47:00 +0000

Most process engineers are unaware of material selection and shy away from the task of providing material selection saying that a corrosion specialist needs to do the job.

What if you do not have the services of a corrosion specialist and you need to provide some quick answers for material selection as a process engineer. This blog entry attempts to give...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - The Art Of Responding To Queries On An Engineering Forum

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:38:00 +0000

I have been a member of Cheresources for the last 4-1/2 years. When I started out on the forums I had little idea of how questions need to be answered on a forum. I observed a lot of veterans on the forum including the administrator Art Montemayor on how they took up the task of answering queries posted by students, professionals and specialists and I...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Erosion Due To Flow

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Erosion can be defined as the mechanical loss of material by the impact of solid particles (e.g. sand, certain hard scales, catalysts) and / or liquid droplets.

Erosion caused failures are not new. The oil and gas industry has suffered and continues to face many failures that can be attributed to erosion.

Under aggressive operating conditions, flow...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - December 6, 2011

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:55:00 +0000

North America

Indefinite Closure

NuStar Energy LP has closed its refinery in San Antonio, Texas after a fire at the plant sent a plume of dense black smoke into the air. No one was injured in the blaze, but the plant’s 60 employees and contractors were...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Gas Flotation For Waste Water Treatment

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:51:00 +0000

Gas Flotation is one of the oldest methods for removal of solids, oil & grease and fibrous materials from waste water. It is part of the primary treatment of waste water. Removal efficiencies can be as high as 99%+ for suspended solids and oil and grease. Gas flotation is simply the process of generating microscopic gas bubbles in the container (tank /...

Community Admin Blog - New Index Page, Better Searching, And Customer Reviews

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:14:00 +0000

Our latest update to our site is complete and this one was a long time coming. I'm sure that many of you who frequent our forums long ago bookmarked the address to get straight to the forums. I can't say I blame you as it wasn't as easy as it could be to get around from the main index page...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Equivalent Length Calculations For Pipe Fittings And Valves

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:19:00 +0000

November 16, 2011 is kind of a momentous day in my life. 25 years ago on this very day a young girl joined hands with me and both of us pledged our love and devotion to each other till death do us apart. This woman has stood by me through all the ups and downs in this long journey of 25 years. She has primarily been responsible for our children growing up...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - November 15, 2011

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0000

North America

New Platform Technology

Polymer Group, Inc. has unveiled a new platform technology to produce nonwovens containing submicron fibers that can deliver improved performance properties for healthcare, industrial, filtration and new emerging market...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - November 1, 2011

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:08:00 +0000

North America

Acquisition

Quest Specialty Coatings has acquired protective coatings maker Patriot Paint. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Patriot Paint produces coatings systems for a wide variety of metal substrates, from zero-VOC, anti-corrosive...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - New Multiphase Flow Transient Analysis Software - Ledaflow

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:34:00 +0000

Being in the upstream oil and gas field the subject of flow assurance related to multiphase flow in pipelines is something that cannot be ignored. While the commonly used softwares such as PIPESIM, PIPEPHASE, TLNET and TGNET are adequate for most flow assurance studies the subject of transient analysis for multiphase flow is a complex one. PIPESIM does not...

Community Admin Blog - Online Store Transition Complete

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:46:00 +0000

If you've been following my blog here, you know that we've been working to transition our entire site into the software that powers our community section. Now, we've completed the transition of the online software store.

We've removed the Online Store legacy menu item at the top of the site and added a category breakdown under the "Store" menu...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Standard Conditions Of Temperature And Pressure

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

A lot has been said about standard conditions of temperature and pressure in chemical engineering texts, international standards (API, ISO, DIN, JIS etc.). Probably the best reference to this very debatable topic is the “Wikipedia” article given at the following link:
...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Tips For Giving A Technical Powerpoint Presentation

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Providing powerpoint presentations related to a project, your company profile, or your area of expertise has become commonplace these days.

Considering the importance of presentations and having done quite a few of them I would like to share some tips on how to go ahead with powerpoint presentations. The tips start with right from preparing the...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - October 18, 2011

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:54:00 +0000

North America

Purchase

Statoil ASA has agreed to buy Brigham Exploration Co. for $4.4 billion in cash, giving it control of fields in North Dakota. The deal will give Statoil more than 375,000 acres in the Williston Basin, which holds the potential for...

Community Admin Blog - Cool Videos For Chemical Engineers

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:03:00 +0000

Since I spend much of my blogging time focused on administering our community, I thought it might be fun to throw some interesting videos out on to the blog for all to enjoy. Some of you may already be familiar with pinch valves and spiral heat exchangers, but I thought that since they're not widely used, some may find them interesting.

The pinch valve...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Boiler Feed Water - Impurities, Treatment, Blowdown And Cycles Of Concentration

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Quite sometime back during my tenure in Saudi Arabia, I was involved in a project related to a large-capacity, gas-fired, D-type water tube boiler. The capacity of the boiler was 530,000 lb/h (240 TPH).

During that time I had been studying about the requirement and design calculations for boiler feed water (BFW) for the boiler since it was part of the...

Mark Roote's Blog - Dust Hazard Assessment

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:13:08 +0000

Anyone working in a facility that handles dust (which is essentially every facility) is trying to get ready for the crackdown from OSHA and NFPA. While OSHA and NFPA are still trying to figure out the best way to implement new standards, what those standards will be and how to enforce the standards, NFPA and OSHA have come out with some temporary...

Mark Roote's Blog - Existing Equipment Strength Verification

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:13:05 +0000

Those of you that have used the spreadsheets created by "psafety" (MAP package 1, MAP package 2) may have run into some...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - October 4, 2011

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:05:00 +0000

North America

Supply Crimp

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Shute Creek Gas Plant in western Wyoming separates helium from natural gas pumped out of nearby wells and is the world’s largest helium factory, producing more than 20 percent of U.S. helium. Recent...

Harrell's Blog - A Different View Of Harrell's Colebrook-White Solution

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:06:00 +0000

For some reason, most people still do not understand how my Colebrook-White solution works.

It has been tested, and re-tested over and over, and always gets the right answers if you don't make
a weird error.

This may help those who are questioning "Why does it work?"

In the Wikipedia you can read about the Lambert W function. Here's a...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Centrifugal Compressor Seal Systems

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:58:00 +0000

The subject of compressors has been fascinating me since the last few years which I have also mentioned in one of my earlier blog entries 'Polytropic Efficiency as a function of Inlet Volume Flow'.

Recently a client came up with a problem of their centrifugal compressor seal failure and asked us to investigate it. Although the subject of compressor...

Harrell's Blog - Harrell's "funnel" To The Colebook-White Solution.

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:45:00 +0000

This is a PDF file with some tables and plots, to show visually how my method works. I call it a funnel, because the procedure quickly guides to maximum accuracy. You will see that after step 2, the accuracy will be amazing. I already knew the solution to the Re and Rr would give 1/sqrt(f) about 4, so I plotted initial guesses of from -4 (that is a...

Harrell's Blog - How Fast Is Harrell's Colebrook-White Solution?

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:04:00 +0000

This attachment is for others test my solutions and test it's speed. On those last postings I showed how my solution works step by step.

In those spreadsheets you enter Right side of the selected equation with the Reynolds number and relative
roughness and a "guess" for the "1/sqrt(f)" variable. I suggested 3 for a guess so that the...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - September 20, 2011

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:24:00 +0000

North America

Award

Dow Corning Corp. was awarded the Neighborhood Environmental Partners Program Award by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The award was given for the company’s commitment to environmental community outreach.

Harrell's Blog - A New Simplified, Accurate, Method For Colebrook Equations

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 07:45:00 +0000

A New Simplified, Accurate, method for Colebrook equations
by Harrell Geron, NRCS Civil Engineer

This is the most simple and accurate solution for the Darcy Friction Factor with Excel. It works with the popular Colebrook-White equations. After learning this method, you can design your own procedures.

Here are four Colebrook-White equations written to...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Flow Meter Comparison - Quick Compilation Of The Web Resources

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:46:00 +0000

Flow meters are a subject of frequent discussion on the 'Chereources' forum. Some of the typical questions related to flowmeters can be described as below:

1. For my application I need to measure the flow. Please suggest the type of flowmeter I should install?

2. I have a flow meter for a particular application. Presently we are facing problem of...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Biochemical Oxygen Demand - Industrial Waste Water Management

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:37:00 +0000

A lot has been written and said about the subject of BOD. But very few know that BOD₅ is calculated using simple concentration formulas from laboratory tests. However, before going into the calculation part let us start from the fundamentals of BOD.

Wikipedia defines BOD as follows:

Biochemical oxygen demand or B.O.D. is the...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - September 6, 2011

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:36:00 +0000

North America

Lawsuit

Halliburton has filed suit against BP for “negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement and defamation” over its actions leading up to and after the United States’ worst oil spill. Halliburton is also amending its...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - A Refresher On Pump Cavitation And Npsh

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:42:00 +0000

There have been numerous articles on the subject item and most standard textbooks in chemical engineering provide quite a detailed description on what pump cavitation and NPSH is. Despite all the literature available on the subject, the debate related to pump cavitation and NPSH continues which is evident from the numerous postings related to the subject...

Community Admin Blog - Video Blog: Upcoming Improvements To Cheresources.com - August 2011

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:19:00 +0000

We have some exciting changes about to occur in our community via a significant software upgrade. Most controls that you're accustomed to using will remain as they are, but our hope is that the site performs faster and is easier to use.

Rather than screen shots, I thought I would put together a quick video to demonstrate some of the improvements that...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - August 23, 2011

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:30:00 +0000

North America

Approval Granted

Ashland has gained EU approval for its $3.2 billion purchase of International Specialty Products Inc. to reinforce its range of products. The European Commission said the purchase did not raise significant competition concerns, and...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - August 8, 2011

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:37:00 +0000

North America

Dropping out of Joint Venture

BASF Corp. and Total Petrochemicals USA Inc. have said that Shell Chemical LP is dropping out of Sabina Petrochemicals LLC, a joint venture that owns a chemical plant in Port Arthur, Texas. Shell�s exit leaves BASF...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Value Engineering � A Chemical Process Industry Perspective

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:37:00 +0000

Wikipedia gives the general definition of value engineering as follows:

"Value engineering (VE) is a systematic method to improve the "value" of goods or products and services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - American Petroleum Institute (Api) - A Legendary Institution

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:47:00 +0000

When a young chemical engineer frequently encounters the acronym API at the start of his or her career, he or she has probably a lot of questions about what on earth is this institute all about and how is it that in my day-to-day job I encounter this term multiple times. This blog entry tries to give some insight about this legendary institution which can...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - July 26, 2011

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:03:00 +0000

North America

Acquisition

BHP Billiton Ltd. will buy Petrohawk Energy for $12.1 billion in cash, giving it greater access to U.S. shale gas assets. The acquisition will give BHP assets covering about one million acres in Texas and Louisiana, with an estimated...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Understanding Your Manager / Supervisor

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Many young engineers find it difficult to get adjusted to their work environment simply because they are unable to understand their manager / supervisor. This blog entry tries to provide some personality or behavioral traits of people whom you may encounter as your manager / supervisor.

Let me start with the �argumentative or �chatty� type of people. These...

ChExpress Blog - Chexpress - July 14, 2011

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:09:00 +0000

North America

Oil Rig Contract

General Electric Co. won a $45 million contract to supply and service a Chevron deep water oil drilling rig in the Gulf Coast. GE will build an oil rig in Chevron�s �Big Foot� oil field that will drill at a depth of 5,200 feet. GE...

Ankur's_Chemical_Engg_Blog - Checklists - An Important Tool In Engineering Design

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:33:00 +0000

Wikipedia gives the definition of a checklist as follows:

A checklist is a type of informational job aid used to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task.

For further reading...